Benny Andrews

Who was Benny Andrews?

Benny Andrews was an American painter, print-maker, creator of collages and educator. He was born November 13, 1930 in Plainview, Georgia and died November 10, 2006 in.

Andrews was an African American who was one of 10 children of sharecroppers raised in Georgia while it was still segregated. He was the first in his family to graduate from high school. Andrews then went on to serve in the U.S. Air Force. Afterwards, the G.I. Bill of Rights afforded him training at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His first New York solo show was in 1962. From 1968 to 1997, Andrews taught at Queens College, City University of New York and created a prison arts program that became a model for the nation.

In 1969, Andrews co-founded the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition an organization that protested the 'Harlem on my Mind' exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. They protested the fact that no African-Americans were involved in organizing the show. The BECC then persuaded the Whitney museum to launch a similar exhibition of African American Artists, but later boycotted that show as well for similar reasons.